Imagine you’re cruising down the highway, minding your own business, when you spot a famous filmmaker trying to hitch a ride.

According to Entertainment Weekly, this actually happened Wednesday to members of the indie band Here We Go Magic as they were traveling through Ohio.

The hitchhiker, it turns out, was none other than “Hairspray” director John Waters.

Fellow occasional hitchhiker Jen Turner, who plays bass for the band, tweeted about the shocking, “mystical” experience, then told EW how the whole thing happened.

She said it started with their sound guy recognizing the famed writer-director standing by the side of the road.

“I’ve hitchhiked half my life,” she told the publication of the crazy encounter. “It’s great to let go of the reins once in a while and see what happens. If you’re a hitchhiker, you have to pick up hitchhikers."

Turner says their decision to pick up Waters was a great one. “We talked about his movies, his work in photography, people he’s met,” she said, referencing a story he told them about hitching a ride with newspaper heiress Patty Hearst once. He also apparently gave the band a secret list of his favorite hitchhiking songs.

Turner said he stayed mum about where he was going though, outside of “into the wild blue yonder.”

The Baltimore Sun noted that Waters appears to be hitchhiking across the country, a method of travel Waters’ seems to have enjoyed for years.

Last summer, he reportedly told Australia's The Star Observer, “I do still hitchhike — it’s a great way to meet people, and to have sex ... I’ve hitchhiked in Baltimore, Provincetown, San Francisco … what, people don’t hitchhike in Australia?”

Here We Go Magic will have plenty of opportunities to pick up more famous stars: the band is currently touring in the Midwest and is expected to perform at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee next month.

soundoff(One Response)

Buddy

If I was driving down a long stretch of road at night, and saw John Waters hitchhiking down the road, my first thought would be, there are zombies amongst us! He kind of looks like the walking dead!!! I'm sure he would be quite an entertaining rider, though.